dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--How an Arlington Heights native has rebuilt the Chicago Steel hockey team

For many , leaving the comforts of home can be difficult .
Often , the first foray into independence arrives when kids get dropped off at college .
For some -- like those playing junior hockey in Geneva for the Chicago Steel -- this experience is thrust upon them a year or two earlier .
Although somewhat disconcerting at first , it normally does n't take long to realize that an incredible support system is in place -- one designed to turn them into better players , of course , but also one that allows them to mature as students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community .
Along the way , incredible friendships are formed .
`` We call ourselves 22 brothers , '' said Glencoe 's Mathieu De St. Phalle , who leads the team with 20 goals .
`` We get close and I love them all . ''
The Steel is enjoying a record-setting season in the United States Hockey League , going almost two months between losses .
But it 's what the organization stands for and how far it has come in a short time that sets it apart .
`` I could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' coach Brock Sheahan said .
`` A lot of times at the junior level , they 're cutting corners for financial reasons .
That 's not the case here .
That 's what attracts the high-end players we have .
`` For the coaches it 's a great place to learn and get better .
You have a lot of support to do what you need to do . ''
The Steel came to life 20 years ago , but the franchise experienced a rebirth when it was purchased by Arlington Heights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ played youth hockey for the Glenview Stars , was part of the construction crew that worked on Arlington Park after the infamous 1985 fire and went on to become portfolio manager and CEO of Glenview Capital Management .
Robbins first moved the team from The Edge in Bensenville and to the nearly 3,000-seat Fox Valley Ice Arena , which better aligned with USHL standards .
Robbins spared no expense and gave the Steel a Chicago Blackhawks-like facelift during a frenzied summer .
`` It 's not my line but I love it : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tires on the car while the car was still moving , '' said Steel President Dan Lehv , who was running the USHL 's Dubuque Fighting Saints when Robbins made him one of his first hires .
`` In an ideal world , we would have come in a couple years ahead .
... ( Instead ) , we showed up in August and were playing hockey games in September . ''
In addition to purchasing an impressive scoreboard that , as Lehv said , `` sticks out like a sore thumb in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resources to improve scouting , installed a ticketing system and improved the player experience .
`` The bus rides ( can be tough ) on other teams , '' said forward Brendan Brisson , who was traded to the Steel by the Green Bay Gamblers last season .
`` We get top-of-the-line busses here and the food that we get ( is great ) .
We 're always prepared for the bus to make the best out of it . ''
Elite hockey players have many options when deciding where to go .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ League ( which Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane tore up ) or the Western Hockey League ( where Kirby Dach , Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith all played ) .
The allure of the USHL is kids keep NCAA eligibility .
`` That 's our biggest selling point , '' Lehv said .
`` Ninety-six percent get Division I opportunities . ''
Getting there takes a special kind of dedication , though , because most players take online high school or college courses .
Only three attend brick-and-mortar schools .
It 's for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ special care when assigning Billet ( or adoptive ) families to their players , who hail from nine different states and four different countries .
There 's also an education coordinator that helps kids pick their courses and is available for 1-on-1 time during study hall .
`` Our head coaches have been unbelievable at not only prioritizing school work , but working with the players , '' Lehv said .
`` We also find tutors for them if they need them .
`` It does n't do us or the player any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and ca n't hold a grade-point average . ''
If that 's not enough , the Steel has kids doing volunteer work for organizations like Feed My Starving Children , the Northern Illinois Food Bank and the Kane County Forest Preserve .
There are also signing sessions with fans , and potentially nerve-racking interviews with NHL scouts or media members .
Oh , and then there 's the hockey -- a 62-game regular season that includes bus rides to places like Cedar Rapids , Green Bay , Madison , Sioux Falls , Lincoln @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the players ' plates .
In the end , they figure it 'll be worth it .
`` Sometimes we can be tired just from working so hard , '' said Sean Farrell , who admits waking up at 7 a.m. to attend Geneva High School can be rough .
`` But I guess that 's a good thing and we 'll get better because of it . ''
The Steel won 15 of its first 20 games , and faced a dose of potential adversity when head coach Greg Moore was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Toronto Marlies Dec. 1 .
Management had thought ahead by hiring Sheahan as associate head coach in July 2018 .
All Sheahan did was lead the Steel to 12 straight wins , 5 of them by 4 goals or more .
Sheahan , a Lethbridge , Alberta , native whose brother is Kris Versteeg 's best friend , played at Notre Dame from 2004-08 and then spent five professional seasons in the AHL , ECHL and in Europe .
He continues an impressive run of coaches hired since Robbins purchased the team .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ led the Steel to a Clark Cup championship in 2017 and is now an assistant with the Nashville Predators .
Sheahan has a roster with three potential first-round picks in June 's draft , and a potential top-5 selection in the 2021 draft in 6-foot-5 defenseman Owen Power .
The Steel ( 27-6-1 ) leads the USHL in goals per game ( 4.8 ) and also has the top power play ( 25.5 percent ) and top penalty kill ( 89.1 percent ) .
De St. Phalle ( 20 goals ) , Sam @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 17 ) and Brisson ( 17 ) rank in the Top 10 in goal-scoring , while Sean Farrell ( 12 goals , 30 assists ) is tied for the league lead in points .
Meanwhile , Power is tied among D-men with 9 goals and is No .
1 with 24 assists .
One mock draft released a week ago has Farrell and Brisson going 28th and 29th overall .
Colangelo could also go in Round 1 .
But that 's all down the road .
Right now , Sheahan just hopes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Cedar Rapids last week .
`` The positives , if you 're going to look into it , is you have to go through adversity to get better , '' said Sheahan , who coached at Holy Cross for two seasons before coming to the Steel .
`` If you keep winning ( and ) something like this happens in playoffs , you do n't have anything to look back on ... to work through a process like this .
`` I do think in the end it 'll be good for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Friday against Madison and Saturday against Des Moines .
Both are 7:05 p.m. starts at home .

How an Arlington Heights native has rebuilt the Chicago Steel hockey team
Sean Farrell and Brendan Brisson celebrate a goal during a 9-5 win over Youngstown Dec. 28 at Fox Valley Ice Arena. Farrell has 12 goals and 30 assists this season. Courtesy of Chicago Steel
Owen Power looks to dish during a 5-3 win over the Waterloo Black Hawks in November at Fox Valley Ice Arena. Power is tied among league defensemen with 9 goals and is tops in assists with 24. Courtesy of Chicago Steel
Mathieu De St. Phalle, who has 20 goals, unloads against the Muskegon Lumberjacks in a November game in Geneva. Courtesy of Chicago Steel
Chicago Steel forward Brendan Brisson, whose 17 goals rank among the Top 10 in the league, heads for the offensive zone in an October game against Muskegon at Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva. Courtesy of Chicago Steel
For many, leaving the comforts of home can be difficult.
Often, the first foray into independence arrives when kids get dropped off at college.
For some -- like those playing junior hockey in Geneva for the Chicago Steel -- this experience is thrust upon them a year or two earlier.
Although somewhat disconcerting at first, it normally doesn't take long to realize that an incredible support system is in place -- one designed to turn them into better players, of course, but also one that allows them to mature as students and as upstanding members of their new community.
Along the way, incredible friendships are formed.
"We call ourselves 22 brothers," said Glencoe's Mathieu De St. Phalle, who leads the team with 20 goals. "We get close and I love them all."
The Steel is enjoying a record-setting season in the United States Hockey League, going almost two months between losses. But it's what the organization stands for and how far it has come in a short time that sets it apart.
"I couldn't be in a better spot," coach Brock Sheahan said. "A lot of times at the junior level, they're cutting corners for financial reasons. That's not the case here. That's what attracts the high-end players we have.
"For the coaches it's a great place to learn and get better. You have a lot of support to do what you need to do."
Reborn in Geneva
The Steel came to life 20 years ago, but the franchise experienced a rebirth when it was purchased by Arlington Heights native Larry Robbins in 2015. Robbins played youth hockey for the Glenview Stars, was part of the construction crew that worked on Arlington Park after the infamous 1985 fire and went on to become portfolio manager and CEO of Glenview Capital Management.
Robbins first moved the team from The Edge in Bensenville and to the nearly 3,000-seat Fox Valley Ice Arena, which better aligned with USHL standards.
Robbins spared no expense and gave the Steel a Chicago Blackhawks-like facelift during a frenzied summer.
"It's not my line but I love it: '(We were) changing the tires on the car while the car was still moving," said Steel President Dan Lehv, who was running the USHL's Dubuque Fighting Saints when Robbins made him one of his first hires. "In an ideal world, we would have come in a couple years ahead. ... (Instead), we showed up in August and were playing hockey games in September."
In addition to purchasing an impressive scoreboard that, as Lehv said, "sticks out like a sore thumb in a recreational rink," Robbins provided resources to improve scouting, installed a ticketing system and improved the player experience.
"The bus rides (can be tough) on other teams," said forward Brendan Brisson, who was traded to the Steel by the Green Bay Gamblers last season. "We get top-of-the-line busses here and the food that we get (is great). We're always prepared for the bus to make the best out of it."
Why the USHL?
Elite hockey players have many options when deciding where to go.
Some will opt for the Ontario Hockey League (which Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane tore up) or the Western Hockey League (where Kirby Dach, Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith all played).
The allure of the USHL is kids keep NCAA eligibility.
"That's our biggest selling point," Lehv said. "Ninety-six percent get Division I opportunities."
Getting there takes a special kind of dedication, though, because most players take online high school or college courses. Only three attend brick-and-mortar schools.
It's for this reason the Steel's management takes special care when assigning Billet (or adoptive) families to their players, who hail from nine different states and four different countries. There's also an education coordinator that helps kids pick their courses and is available for 1-on-1 time during study hall.
The coaches also play a role.
"Our head coaches have been unbelievable at not only prioritizing school work, but working with the players," Lehv said. "We also find tutors for them if they need them.
"It doesn't do us or the player any good if the player advances to college and can't hold a grade-point average."
If that's not enough, the Steel has kids doing volunteer work for organizations like Feed My Starving Children, the Northern Illinois Food Bank and the Kane County Forest Preserve. There are also signing sessions with fans, and potentially nerve-racking interviews with NHL scouts or media members.
Oh, and then there's the hockey -- a 62-game regular season that includes bus rides to places like Cedar Rapids, Green Bay, Madison, Sioux Falls, Lincoln and Omaha.
There's a lot on the players' plates. In the end, they figure it'll be worth it.
"Sometimes we can be tired just from working so hard," said Sean Farrell, who admits waking up at 7 a.m. to attend Geneva High School can be rough. "But I guess that's a good thing and we'll get better because of it."
A record run
The Steel won 15 of its first 20 games, and faced a dose of potential adversity when head coach Greg Moore was hired by the American Hockey League's Toronto Marlies Dec. 1. Management had thought ahead by hiring Sheahan as associate head coach in July 2018.
All Sheahan did was lead the Steel to 12 straight wins, 5 of them by 4 goals or more.
Sheahan, a Lethbridge, Alberta, native whose brother is Kris Versteeg's best friend, played at Notre Dame from 2004-08 and then spent five professional seasons in the AHL, ECHL and in Europe.
He continues an impressive run of coaches hired since Robbins purchased the team. The first was Dan Muse, who led the Steel to a Clark Cup championship in 2017 and is now an assistant with the Nashville Predators.
Sheahan has a roster with three potential first-round picks in June's draft, and a potential top-5 selection in the 2021 draft in 6-foot-5 defenseman Owen Power.
The Steel (27-6-1) leads the USHL in goals per game (4.8) and also has the top power play (25.5 percent) and top penalty kill (89.1 percent).
De St. Phalle (20 goals), Sam Colangelo (19), Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (17) and Brisson (17) rank in the Top 10 in goal-scoring, while Sean Farrell (12 goals, 30 assists) is tied for the league lead in points.
Meanwhile, Power is tied among D-men with 9 goals and is No. 1 with 24 assists.
One mock draft released a week ago has Farrell and Brisson going 28th and 29th overall. Colangelo could also go in Round 1.
But that's all down the road.
Right now, Sheahan just hopes the Steel bounces back from back-to-back losses to Cedar Rapids last week.
"The positives, if you're going to look into it, is you have to go through adversity to get better," said Sheahan, who coached at Holy Cross for two seasons before coming to the Steel. "If you keep winning (and) something like this happens in playoffs, you don't have anything to look back on ... to work through a process like this.
"I do think in the end it'll be good for us."
The Steel next plays Friday against Madison and Saturday against Des Moines. Both are 7:05 p.m. starts at home.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--Arlington Heights defends efforts to diversify police department, village workforce

After facing criticism last year about a lack of diversity in its police ranks and other village departments , Arlington Heights leaders have added a person of color to the force and taken other steps to broaden their workforce .
But they have n't gone far enough , a member of the organization Bridging the Black and White Divide told elected officials last week at a village board meeting .
`` We 're particularly concerned about the lack of African Americans employed in the village , '' Paul Scott of Bloomingdale said .
`` Tone deafness on diversity undervalues the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the village is being passed over by the times .
It increasingly risks separation and isolation from all the richness and benefits that real , true diversity provide . ''
`` I believe , as a member of this board for 29 years now , that this board has done many things to make it welcoming to any and all that choose to live here , '' Hayes said .
`` And I just totally disagree that people find it unacceptable and are not accepted as being welcome here .
I just completely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the village acknowledged the police department of at least 100 sworn officers and 30 civilian employees did n't have any black personnel after the issue was raised by the Rev .
Clyde Brooks , chairman of the Arlington Heights-based Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations .
Since then , Brooks , members of Bridging the Black and White Divide and Village Manager Randy Recklaus have met periodically to discuss police diversity .
Responding to Scott , Recklaus said a woman of color recently was hired by the police department .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leading an area group of village managers and police chiefs exploring hiring issues and ways to reach out to women and minorities .
One initiative in the works is a partnership with Harper College in Palatine to form a broad recruitment effort for minorities and others interested in law enforcement careers .
`` We can get a look at people we can offer internships with and show that we 're a group of organizations looking to add diversity , '' Recklaus said .
`` And of the nine strategic priorities that the ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of them was increasing inclusion and diversity in our community and our organization . ''
Recklaus added that managers and other employees last year underwent implicit bias training `` so we could just be more aware of our biases '' and how they might affect the village .
Scott , a member of a regional NAACP chapter and Chicago nonprofit Unity Partnership that promotes better relations between law enforcement and the community , said he wants to continue trying to help the village diversify its police department .
Trustee Mary Beth Canty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asking Arlington Heights to do better .
`` I , too , am a proud member of this community , but I am also a person of color , '' Canty said .
`` And I think we can be proud of our community and we can be proud of the services that we provide and we can also demand that they do better .
So , I applaud groups and individuals who come and speak out on these issues and ask that we do better as a community without accusation .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made this evening . ''

Arlington Heights defends efforts to diversify police department, village workforce
After facing criticism last year about a lack of diversity in its police ranks and other village departments, Arlington Heights leaders have added a person of color to the force and taken other steps to broaden their workforce.
But they haven't gone far enough, a member of the organization Bridging the Black and White Divide told elected officials last week at a village board meeting.
"We're particularly concerned about the lack of African Americans employed in the village," Paul Scott of Bloomingdale said. "Tone deafness on diversity undervalues the issue and creates a real risk that the village is being passed over by the times. It increasingly risks separation and isolation from all the richness and benefits that real, true diversity provide."
Mayor Tom Hayes pushed back on Scott's characterizations of Arlington Heights.
"I believe, as a member of this board for 29 years now, that this board has done many things to make it welcoming to any and all that choose to live here," Hayes said. "And I just totally disagree that people find it unacceptable and are not accepted as being welcome here. I just completely disagree with that."
In August, the village acknowledged the police department of at least 100 sworn officers and 30 civilian employees didn't have any black personnel after the issue was raised by the Rev. Clyde Brooks, chairman of the Arlington Heights-based Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations.
Since then, Brooks, members of Bridging the Black and White Divide and Village Manager Randy Recklaus have met periodically to discuss police diversity.
Responding to Scott, Recklaus said a woman of color recently was hired by the police department. He also said Arlington Heights last year began leading an area group of village managers and police chiefs exploring hiring issues and ways to reach out to women and minorities.
One initiative in the works is a partnership with Harper College in Palatine to form a broad recruitment effort for minorities and others interested in law enforcement careers.
"We can get a look at people we can offer internships with and show that we're a group of organizations looking to add diversity," Recklaus said. "And of the nine strategic priorities that the (village) board adopted this summer, one of them was increasing inclusion and diversity in our community and our organization."
Recklaus added that managers and other employees last year underwent implicit bias training "so we could just be more aware of our biases" and how they might affect the village.
Scott, a member of a regional NAACP chapter and Chicago nonprofit Unity Partnership that promotes better relations between law enforcement and the community, said he wants to continue trying to help the village diversify its police department.
Trustee Mary Beth Canty said there was nothing wrong with Scott asking Arlington Heights to do better.
"I, too, am a proud member of this community, but I am also a person of color," Canty said. "And I think we can be proud of our community and we can be proud of the services that we provide and we can also demand that they do better. So, I applaud groups and individuals who come and speak out on these issues and ask that we do better as a community without accusation. And I don't think any accusations were made this evening."


dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--Testimony coming? Abrupt acquittal? Trump impeachment trial edges on

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump 's impeachment trial lurched into a final day of questions and answers Thursday before a crucial vote on calling witnesses -- even as attention focused on a Trump attorney 's controversial defense and a Republican senator 's effort to expose the whistleblower who started the impeachment probe .
The vote on witnesses , expected Friday , could lead to an abrupt end of the trial with the expected acquittal .
Or , less likely , it could bring weeks more of argument a s Democrats press to hear testimony f rom former national security adviser @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Leader Mitch McConnell opened Thursday 's session bracing for an attempt by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky to expose the name of the still anonymous whistleblower in the public trial .
McConnell urged restraint by his colleagues .
But to no avail .
Paul quickly rose to put forward one of the first questions of the day , drawing a long pause in the chamber as Chief Justice John Roberts looked over the submission .
Said Roberts : `` The presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted . ''
The chief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of fielding questions during the impeachment trial , had communicated through his staff to McConnell 's office that he did not want to read the whistleblower 's name , according to a Republican unauthorized to discuss the private conversation and granted anonymity .
Senators faced eight hours Thursday of final questions ahead of Friday 's expected votes .
In a day-after tweet , Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz , the defense attorney and former college professor , complained about the portrayal of his testimony Wednesday night that a president , if he believes his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' is essentially immune from impeachment for actions in support of that idea .
That argument left even some of Trump 's top allies backing away .
`` They characterized my argument as if I had said that if a president believes that his re-election was in the national interest , he can do anything , '' the retired professor said Thursday .
`` I said nothing like that , as anyone who actually heard what I said can attest . ''
Asked about it as one of the first questions Thursday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House prosecutor , said , `` Have we learned nothing in the last half century ? ''
Schiff drew on the lessons of the Nixon era to warn of a `` normalization of lawlessness '' in the Trump presidency .
`` That argument - if the president says it it ca n't be illegal - failed when Richard Nixon was forced to resign , '' Schiff told the senators .
`` But that argument may succeed here , now . ''
Dershowitz testified to the Senate jurors late Wednesday that the quid pro @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's impeachment -- a trade of U.S. military aid for political favors -- even if proven could not be grounds for his impeachment .
`` Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest , '' he said Wednesday night .
`` And if a president does something , which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest , that can not be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment . ''
That argument was an abrupt turnaround from Trump 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Ukraine .
One key Republican , Sen. Susan Collins of Maine , said only : `` Yesterday was very interesting .
That 's all I 'm going to say . ''
On Thursday , Democratic senators also wanted to revisit the White House counsel 's suggestion that soliciting foreign assistance in a U.S. political campaign was not necessarily against the law .
`` This is not a banana republic , '' responded one of the House prosecutors , Rep. Hakeem Jeffries , D-N.Y. `` It 's the democratic republic of the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Republican senators , in their own questions , drew on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 's initial reluctance to undertake a one-sided impeachment process without broad backing from Americans .
`` That 's a reason you should n't have an impeachment , '' said White House Counsel Pat Cipollone .
Meanwhile , Democrats are pressing hard to force the Senate to call more witnesses to testify , but Republicans appear intently focused on bringing the impeachment trial to a vote of acquittal , possibly in a matter of days .
New revelations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being countered by the president 's lawyers , who used Wednesday 's unusual question-and-answer session to warn off prolonging the proceeding .
Pelosi warned Trump on Thursday that a sham trial is not acquittal of the impeachment charges against him .
`` You ca n't be acquitted if you do n't have a trial , '' said Pelosi , arguing anew that Trump will be `` impeached forever . ''
Said Pelosi , `` I just pray that the senators will have the courage and the ability to handle the truth -- rather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ argued Bolton 's forthcoming book can not be ignored .
It contends he personally heard Trump say he wanted military aid withheld from Ukraine until it agreed to investigate Joe Biden and his son , Hunter Biden -- the abuse of power charge that is the first article of impeachment .
Trump denies saying such a thing .
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged it 's `` an uphill battle '' to bring four GOP senators to vote for witnesses but said .
`` we 're still hopeful . ''
Wednesday night , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prosecutors , appeared stunned at Dershowitz 's argument .
`` All quid pro quos are not the same , '' he retorted .
Some might be acceptable , some not .
`` And you do n't need to be a mind reader to figure out which is which .
For one thing , you can ask John Bolton . ''
Trump faces charges from the House that he abused his power like no other president , jeopardizing Ukraine and U.S.-Ukraine relations by using the military aid as leverage while the vulnerable ally battled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Trump then obstructed the House probe in a way that threatened the nation 's three-branch system of checks and balances .
Schumer asked whether the Senate could really render a fair verdict without hearing from Bolton or acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney , both potential eyewitnesses to Trump 's actions .
`` Do n't wait for the book .
Do n't wait 'til March 17 , when it is in black and white to find out the answer to your question , '' Schiff told the Senate .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The White House on Wednesday released a letter to Bolton 's attorney objecting to `` significant amounts of classified information '' in the manuscript , including at the top secret level .
Bolton and his attorney have insisted the book does not contain any classified information .
The White House action could delay the book 's publication if Bolton , who resigned last September -- Trump says he was fired -- is forced to revise his draft .
GOP senators are straining to balance the new revelations with pressure for quick acquittal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders that calling Bolton as a witness could entangle the trial in lengthy legal battles and delay Trump 's expected acquittal .
In a Senate split 53-47 in favor of Republicans , at least four GOP senators must join all Democrats to reach the 51 votes required to call witnesses , decide whom to call or do nearly anything else in the trial .
One person watching from the sidelines Wednesday was Lev Parnas , an indicted associate of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani .
Parnas arrived at the Capitol but could not enter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He has turned over evidence for the investigation , and said he wants to testify .
Associated Press writers Alan Fram , Andrew Taylor , Matthew Daly , Laurie Kellman and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report .

One moderate Republican says he won't vote for witnesses, so Senate trial could end Friday
House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, answers a question Wednesday during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Associated Press
Alan Dershowitz, an attorney for President Donald Trump, answers a question Wednesday during the impeachment trial against Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee declared late Thursday he will oppose calling more witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, all but dashing Democratic efforts to hear more testimony and boosting chances the Senate will vote quickly to acquit the president.
The retiring senator announced his decision by releasing a statement after senators finished a long question-and-answer session with the House Democrats prosecuting the charges and Trump's lawyers defending the president. It's a career-capping move by the 79-year-old lawmaker and former governor with a centrist streak in GOP politics.
At the same time, another key Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said she would vote for more witnesses, but it would take four GOP senators to break with the majority and join with Democrats to tip the outcome.
Alexander, Collins and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were playing an over-sized role in the final hours of debate with pointed questions ahead of crucial votes. Another, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has made clear he will vote for witnesses.
"There is no need for more evidence," Alexander said in his statement.
While he said it was "inappropriate"' for the president to ask Ukraine to investigate a political rival Joe Biden, he said the House charges, even if true, "do not meet the Constitution's 'treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors' standard for an impeachable offense."
Collins said she wanted both sides, the House Democrats prosecuting the case and the president's defense attorneys, to agree on "a limited and equal number of witnesses for each side. If they can't agree, then the Senate could choose the number of witnesses."
A vote on witnesses, expected Friday, could lead to an abrupt end of the trial with the expected acquittal. Or, now less likely, it could bring days, if not weeks more argument as Democrats press to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton and others.
In Thursday night's debate, Murkowski drew a reaction when she asked simply: "Why should this body not call Ambassador Bolton?"
Alexander had captured attention just before the dinner break when he questioned partisanship in the proceedings thus far.
In response to Alexander and others, Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, a congressional staffer during Watergate and now a House prosecutor, told the senators that the Nixon impeachment also started as a partisan inquiry. A bipartisan consensus emerged only after Republicans -- including staunch Nixon supporters -- saw enough evidence to change their minds, she said.
"They couldn't turn away from the evidence that their president had committed abuse of power and they had to vote to impeach him,'' Lofgren said. Richard Nixon resigned before he was impeached.
While disappointed that House Republicans did not join Democrats in voting to impeach Trump, she said the Senate -- "the greatest deliberative body on the planet'' -- has a new opportunity.
Alexander, after his question Thursday night, consulted with a key staff aide to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. As the senators broke for dinner Alexander and Murkowski met privately.
Trump was impeached by House last month on charges that he abused his power like no other president, jeopardizing Ukraine and U.S.-Ukraine relations. Democrats say Trump asked he vulnerable ally to investigate Joe Biden and debunked theories of 2016 election interference, temporarily halting American security aid to the country as it battled Russia at its border. The second article of impeachment says Trump then obstructed the House probe in a way that threatened the nation's three-branch system of checks and balances.
Thursday's testimony included soaring pleas to the senators-as-jurors who will decide Trump's fate, to either stop a president who Democrats say has tried to cheat in the upcoming election and will again, or to shut down impeachment proceedings that Republicans insist were never more than a partisan attack.
"Let's give the country a trial they can be proud of," said Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor for House Democrats. Americans, he said, know what it takes for a fair trial. He offered to take just one week for depositions of new witnesses, sparking new discussions.
Trump attorney Eric Herschmann declared the Democrats are only prosecuting the president because they can't beat him in 2020.
"We trust the American people to decide who should be our president," Herschmann said. "Enough is Enough. Stop all of this."
McConnell was toiling to keep Friday's vote on schedule even as the trial was unearthing fresh evidence from Bolton's new book and raising alarms among Democrats and some Republicans about a Trump attorney's controversial defense.
In a day-after tweet, Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz, complained about the portrayal of his Wednesday night testimony when he said a president is essentially immune from impeachment if he believes his actions to be in the "national interest."
That idea frustrated some inside the White House, who felt Dershowitz's claim was unnecessary and inflammatory -- irking senators with a controversial claim of vast executive powers. But those officials left it to Dershowitz to back away, wary that any public White House retreat would be viewed poorly by the president.
"I said nothing like that," the retired professor tweeted Thursday.
His words Wednesday night: "Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest. And if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected is in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment."
Asked about it as one of the first questions Thursday, Democrat Schiff, said, "Have we learned nothing in the last half century?"
Schiff drew on the lessons of the Nixon era to warn of a "normalization of lawlessness" in the Trump presidency.
"That argument - if the president says it it can't be illegal - failed when Richard Nixon was forced to resign," Schiff told the senators. "But that argument may succeed here, now."
"This is not a banana republic," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., rejecting the White House counsel's suggestion there was nothing wrong with seeking foreign election interference.
Democrats played a video showing the many times Trump has campaign.
The president has argued repeatedly that his dealings with Ukraine have been "perfect."
Republicans Collins, Romney and Murkowski all have expressed interest in hearing from Bolton and the others.
In a Senate split 53-47 with a Republican majority, at least four GOP senators must join all Democrats to reach the 51 votes required to call witnesses, decide whom to call or do nearly anything else in the trial.
Chief Justice John Roberts, presiding over the chamber and fielding senators' questions for the trial, could break a tie, but that seems unlikely.
The chief justice did exercise authority Thursday with a stunning rebuttal to a question posed by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky designed to expose those familiar with the still anonymous whistleblower whose complaint about Trump's phone call with Ukraine's new president led to the impeachment inquiry.
Roberts had communicated through his staff to McConnell's office that he did not want to read the whistleblower's name, according to a Republican unauthorized to discuss the private conversation and granted anonymity.
"The presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted," he said.
Senators have dispatched with more than 100 queries over two days. The questions came from the parties' leaders, the senators running for the Democratic nomination against Trump and even bipartisan coalitions from both sides of the aisle.
Trump's team says the House's 28,000-page case against the president and the 17 witnesses -- current and former national security officials, ambassadors and others who testified in the House proceedings -- are sufficient.
Instead, Trump's lawyers focused some of their time Thursday refloating allegations against Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a gas company in Ukraine while his father was vice president.
Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., responding to one question said the Bidens have little to tell the Senate about Trump's efforts to "shake down" Ukraine for his own campaign.
Democrats argued Bolton's forthcoming book cannot be ignored. It contends he personally heard Trump say he wanted military aid withheld from Ukraine until it agreed to investigate the Bidens -- the abuse of power charge that is the first article of impeachment. Trump denies saying such a thing.
The White House has blocked its officials from testifying in the proceedings and objected in a letter to Bolton's attorney to "significant amounts of classified information" in the manuscript, including at the top secret level. Bolton resigned last September -- Trump says he was fired -- and he and his attorney have insisted the book does not contain any classified information.
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly, Laurie Kellman and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--Illinois ethics laws among the weakest in the nation, legislators told

SPRINGFIELD -- Government reform advocates told a panel of state lawmakers Thursday that Illinois has some of the weakest governmental ethics rules in the country and that lawmakers should put more teeth into them if they hope to regain the trust of the public .
`` For me , the disheartening part of all of it is not that so many lawmakers at all levels of government have strayed so far from the rules and have overshadowed the good work of ethical lawmakers , but that so many across our state kind of react to this news with a shrug @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director of the watchdog group Common Cause Illinois .
`` It 's a kind of disheartened acceptance that , well , this is just the way things work in Illinois . ''
Logothetis was part of a panel of reform advocates who testified before the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform .
The commission was formed last year in the wake of federal investigations that led to indictments against three sitting state lawmakers , two of whom have since resigned .
Thursday 's hearing , the third since the panel was formed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ethics Act , and specifically its provisions dealing with conflicts of interest and financial disclosure requirements .
While some states specifically prohibit lawmakers and other public officials from acting on issues in which they have a direct financial interest , Illinois has no such provision .
In fact , the only thing the Illinois law says about conflicts of interest is that when they arise , lawmakers `` should consider the possibility of eliminating the interest causing the conflict . ''
`` If that is not feasible , '' the statute continues , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abstaining from such official action . ''
Marie Dillon , policy director for the Better Government Association , a Chicago-based advocacy group , said that law was the result of a 1965 study commission that initially recommended mandatory rules , along with penalties and public reporting for violators .
Those suggestions were rejected by lawmakers at the time .
`` So , we ended up with a law that leaves it up to individual legislators to decide if they have a conflict of interest and , if so , what to do about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As a taxpayer , I have to say emphatically , that 's not good enough . ''
Nicholas Birdsong , a policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures , said conflict of interest laws vary widely among the states .
He said 35 states require lawmakers to recuse themselves from votes in which they have a conflict of interest and 13 states , including Illinois , leave the decision up to the lawmaker .
In Tennessee , where the rules are different in each chamber , the state House has a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a discretionary policy .
Utah , Birdsong said , requires legislators to vote if they are present , regardless of whether they have a conflict .
Birdsong said some states have adopted the idea that lawmakers should be able to vote , even if they have a conflict of interest , because `` legislators are elected and they 're obligated to vote according to the will of their constituents regardless of whether or not it serves or hurts their interest , and so having these sort of mandatory recusal rules essentially limits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Many of those testifying Thursday also called for updating and expanding the Statement of Economic Interests forms that public officials in Illinois are required to fill out .
`` The interesting thing about this document to me is , I 'm not sure it adequately assesses what the interests are , '' said Brad Cole , executive director of the Illinois Municipal League .
As an example , Cole pointed to one question on the form that asks what other units of government the person filing the form has worked for in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ n't say what you do for that unit of government , and that makes me wonder what is the interest , '' he said .
`` If you are employed , what are you doing ?
What is the interest that you might have with the unit of government . ''
Other questions on the form ask filers to identify the names of businesses in which they have an ownership interest ; the names of professional organizations in which they are an officer or director ; the nature of any professional services they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than $ 5,000 ; the identity of significant capital assets they own ; and the name of any lobbyist with whom they have a `` close economic association . ''
Others pointed out that people filling out the form do not have to disclose outstanding debts or credits , any real estate holdings they may have other than their home , or how much income they derive from sources that might present a conflict of interest .
Former Lt. Gov .
Sheila Simon , who served from 2011 to 2015 under then-Gov .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the current document as a `` none sheet '' because people can write the word `` none '' on virtually all of the questions , even though they might still have significant outside interests .
She argued that the form should be designed in a way that is useful to the public rather than in a way that protects the privacy of public officials .
`` I 'd ask you to step back and look at how it 's going to affect people back home , '' she said .
`` How @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members of the state House and Senate , but how is it going to affect people who are on the city council and the county board and the library district and everyone who is a constituent of those elected people who would like to know , does the person who 's proposing the new library board have an interest in the property where they 're going to build the new library ? ''
The joint commission so far has not made any recommendations for new ethics laws .
Its final report to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But Democratic Gov .
J.B. Pritzker made a forceful plea in his state of the State Address on Wednesday that he expects lawmakers to pass `` real , lasting ethics reform this legislative session . ''
`` I think that message coming from the leader of our state is one of the strongest messages that can take place , '' Lt. Gov .
Juliana Stratton , a member of the commission , said after the meeting .

Illinois ethics laws among the weakest in the nation, legislators told
Peter Hancock/Capitol News IllinoisFormer Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon says the state should require more financial disclosure from lawmakers. She testified Thursday before the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform at the Capitol in Springfield.
SPRINGFIELD -- Government reform advocates told a panel of state lawmakers Thursday that Illinois has some of the weakest governmental ethics rules in the country and that lawmakers should put more teeth into them if they hope to regain the trust of the public.
"For me, the disheartening part of all of it is not that so many lawmakers at all levels of government have strayed so far from the rules and have overshadowed the good work of ethical lawmakers, but that so many across our state kind of react to this news with a shrug," said Georgia Logothetis, assistant director of the watchdog group Common Cause Illinois. "It's a kind of disheartened acceptance that, well, this is just the way things work in Illinois."
Logothetis was part of a panel of reform advocates who testified before the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform. The commission was formed last year in the wake of federal investigations that led to indictments against three sitting state lawmakers, two of whom have since resigned.
Thursday's hearing, the third since the panel was formed, focused on the state's Governmental Ethics Act, and specifically its provisions dealing with conflicts of interest and financial disclosure requirements.
While some states specifically prohibit lawmakers and other public officials from acting on issues in which they have a direct financial interest, Illinois has no such provision.
In fact, the only thing the Illinois law says about conflicts of interest is that when they arise, lawmakers "should consider the possibility of eliminating the interest causing the conflict."
"If that is not feasible," the statute continues, "he should consider the possibility of abstaining from such official action."
Marie Dillon, policy director for the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based advocacy group, said that law was the result of a 1965 study commission that initially recommended mandatory rules, along with penalties and public reporting for violators. Those suggestions were rejected by lawmakers at the time.
"So, we ended up with a law that leaves it up to individual legislators to decide if they have a conflict of interest and, if so, what to do about it," Dillon said. "As a taxpayer, I have to say emphatically, that's not good enough."
Nicholas Birdsong, a policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said conflict of interest laws vary widely among the states. He said 35 states require lawmakers to recuse themselves from votes in which they have a conflict of interest and 13 states, including Illinois, leave the decision up to the lawmaker.
In Tennessee, where the rules are different in each chamber, the state House has a mandatory recusal policy and the state Senate has a discretionary policy. Utah, Birdsong said, requires legislators to vote if they are present, regardless of whether they have a conflict.
Birdsong said some states have adopted the idea that lawmakers should be able to vote, even if they have a conflict of interest, because "legislators are elected and they're obligated to vote according to the will of their constituents regardless of whether or not it serves or hurts their interest, and so having these sort of mandatory recusal rules essentially limits their ability to do their jobs."
Many of those testifying Thursday also called for updating and expanding the Statement of Economic Interests forms that public officials in Illinois are required to fill out.
"The interesting thing about this document to me is, I'm not sure it adequately assesses what the interests are," said Brad Cole, executive director of the Illinois Municipal League.
As an example, Cole pointed to one question on the form that asks what other units of government the person filing the form has worked for in the preceding year.
"It doesn't say what you do for that unit of government, and that makes me wonder what is the interest," he said. "If you are employed, what are you doing? What is the interest that you might have with the unit of government."
Other questions on the form ask filers to identify the names of businesses in which they have an ownership interest; the names of professional organizations in which they are an officer or director; the nature of any professional services they rendered for which they were paid more than $5,000; the identity of significant capital assets they own; and the name of any lobbyist with whom they have a "close economic association."
Others pointed out that people filling out the form do not have to disclose outstanding debts or credits, any real estate holdings they may have other than their home, or how much income they derive from sources that might present a conflict of interest.
Former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, who served from 2011 to 2015 under then-Gov. Pat Quinn, said reporters often refer to the current document as a "none sheet" because people can write the word "none" on virtually all of the questions, even though they might still have significant outside interests.
She argued that the form should be designed in a way that is useful to the public rather than in a way that protects the privacy of public officials.
"I'd ask you to step back and look at how it's going to affect people back home," she said. "How is it going to affect not just members of the state House and Senate, but how is it going to affect people who are on the city council and the county board and the library district and everyone who is a constituent of those elected people who would like to know, does the person who's proposing the new library board have an interest in the property where they're going to build the new library?"
The joint commission so far has not made any recommendations for new ethics laws. Its final report to the General Assembly is due March 31.
But Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker made a forceful plea in his state of the State Address on Wednesday that he expects lawmakers to pass "real, lasting ethics reform this legislative session."
"I think that message coming from the leader of our state is one of the strongest messages that can take place," Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a member of the commission, said after the meeting.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--Secretary of state no longer will forward 16-year-olds' info to voter registration system

SPRINGFIELD -- While the information for approximately 4,700 16-year-olds was forwarded from the Illinois secretary of state 's office to the State Board of Elections as part of an automatic voter registration program , no underage people were registered to vote , nor did they receive information about registering to vote , according to representatives of those two agencies .
`` To be clear , no 16-year-olds were registered to vote , '' Henry Haupt , deputy press secretary for the secretary of state 's office said in a phone call Thursday .
`` In fact , the election authorities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system in place preventing them from registering anyone under age to vote . ''
Automatic voter registration became law in 2017 , providing that Illinois citizens are automatically registered to vote whenever they apply for or renew a driver 's license unless they opt out .
Under that system , the secretary of state 's office shares a database with the state elections board .
The transmission of 16-year-olds ' information through that system was an issue of policy and not related to a previous glitch in the voter registration system which allowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to officials .
Haupt said even though the secretary of state shared the information of 16-year-olds , they did so knowing they would not be allowed to vote if they did not reach the necessary age by the date of the next election .
In Illinois , a person who is 17 is allowed to vote in primary elections as long as they will turn 18 by the date of the general election .
Haupt said after recent discussions with the elections board , the secretary of state will change its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and met with ISBE and we will no longer be sending 16-year-old registration information , '' Haupt said .
`` Now we 're just not even going to send them that information .
We 're going to cut that out .
We 'll just start sending it when they 're 17 years or older . ''
Matt Dietrich , public information officer for the elections board , said in a phone call the agency noticed a large number of applications for 16-year-olds coming through the automatic registration system even though they were clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dietrich said no 16-year-old got any further in the registration process than applying for a driver 's license at the secretary of state 's office .
`` They were never registered to vote , they were never even forwarded to the local election authorities , '' he said .
Still , because the information was forwarded by the secretary of state , the state elections board sent letters to all whose information was received , telling them their voter registration had been blocked .
`` We had noticed that we were getting a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we block those automatically , '' Dietrich said .
`` Those never went on to the local jurisdictions .
No 16-year-old was ever registered to vote .
And we were sending letters to the applicants that basically said … 'you 're too young , we recently received the application .
However , under Illinois law and so forth and so on . '
'' He said the 4,700 number is approximate because , `` this never became part of our record keeping , because we were n't even supposed to see them .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the elections board meeting this week when board members said underage persons should not even be given the chance to start the AVR process when applying for a license .
He said while he initially believed the applications were being received as part of a glitch , the secretary of state 's office clarified that their sharing of the information was intentional .
`` They are no longer going to send them to us and we are no longer going to have to send out letters , '' he said .
Haupt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office was looking into why some legally eligible U.S. citizens who opted out of registration were registered to vote anyway through the program .
`` Hopefully we 'll have more information by the end of the day , '' he said .
In response to the existing non-citizen registration , news reports of the 16-year-olds being moved through the registration system and those that opted out of the system being registered , Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady called for a suspension of the automatic voter registration system Thursday .
`` We are asking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` glitches '' known and unknown are fixed , '' Brady said in a letter to the secretary of state that was co-signed by the entire Senate Republican caucus .

Secretary of state no longer will forward 16-year-olds' info to voter registration system
SPRINGFIELD -- While the information for approximately 4,700 16-year-olds was forwarded from the Illinois secretary of state's office to the State Board of Elections as part of an automatic voter registration program, no underage people were registered to vote, nor did they receive information about registering to vote, according to representatives of those two agencies.
"To be clear, no 16-year-olds were registered to vote," Henry Haupt, deputy press secretary for the secretary of state's office said in a phone call Thursday. "In fact, the election authorities throughout the state have long had a system in place preventing them from registering anyone under age to vote."
Automatic voter registration became law in 2017, providing that Illinois citizens are automatically registered to vote whenever they apply for or renew a driver's license unless they opt out. Under that system, the secretary of state's office shares a database with the state elections board.
The transmission of 16-year-olds' information through that system was an issue of policy and not related to a previous glitch in the voter registration system which allowed 545 self-identified non-citizens to register to vote, according to officials.
Haupt said even though the secretary of state shared the information of 16-year-olds, they did so knowing they would not be allowed to vote if they did not reach the necessary age by the date of the next election.
In Illinois, a person who is 17 is allowed to vote in primary elections as long as they will turn 18 by the date of the general election.
Haupt said after recent discussions with the elections board, the secretary of state will change its current policy.
"We went ahead and met with ISBE and we will no longer be sending 16-year-old registration information," Haupt said. "Now we're just not even going to send them that information. We're going to cut that out. We'll just start sending it when they're 17 years or older."
Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the elections board, said in a phone call the agency noticed a large number of applications for 16-year-olds coming through the automatic registration system even though they were clearly not of age to vote. But Dietrich said no 16-year-old got any further in the registration process than applying for a driver's license at the secretary of state's office.
"They were never registered to vote, they were never even forwarded to the local election authorities," he said.
Still, because the information was forwarded by the secretary of state, the state elections board sent letters to all whose information was received, telling them their voter registration had been blocked.
"We had noticed that we were getting a lot of these applications coming through and we block those automatically," Dietrich said. "Those never went on to the local jurisdictions. No 16-year-old was ever registered to vote. And we were sending letters to the applicants that basically said … 'you're too young, we recently received the application. However, under Illinois law and so forth and so on.'"
He said the 4,700 number is approximate because, "this never became part of our record keeping, because we weren't even supposed to see them."
Dietrich said the issue came up at the elections board meeting this week when board members said underage persons should not even be given the chance to start the AVR process when applying for a license.
He said while he initially believed the applications were being received as part of a glitch, the secretary of state's office clarified that their sharing of the information was intentional.
"They are no longer going to send them to us and we are no longer going to have to send out letters," he said.
Haupt also noted the secretary of state's office was looking into why some legally eligible U.S. citizens who opted out of registration were registered to vote anyway through the program.
"Hopefully we'll have more information by the end of the day," he said.
In response to the existing non-citizen registration, news reports of the 16-year-olds being moved through the registration system and those that opted out of the system being registered, Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady called for a suspension of the automatic voter registration system Thursday.
"We are asking that you suspend this program until all "glitches" known and unknown are fixed," Brady said in a letter to the secretary of state that was co-signed by the entire Senate Republican caucus.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--Pit bull attacks, kills corgi in Arlington Heights

A Welsh corgi dog out for a walk with its owner this week in Arlington Heights was mauled to death by a pit bull that escaped from its house .
`` It was the worst thing I have ever experienced , '' said Alice Sylvester Stepanek , who was walking her 2-year-old female corgi after noon Monday near north Walnut and Chestnut avenues when the attack occurred .
`` This whole thing from start to finish could have been 10 minutes .
Ten minutes is a lifetime when someone 's chewing and mauling your dog . ''
Stepanek said she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were on their regular afternoon walk when the pit bull came racing down the block and attacked .
She picked up Yo-Yo as the female pit bull bit at the smaller dog 's legs .
The pitbull 's owner soon arrived to put a leash on her dog , according to a police report .
Yo-Yo was injured but OK at that point , Stepanek said .
Then , as the pit bull owner was walking her dog back home , she lost control of the leash and the dog returned to resume @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some point , Stepanek said , she lost Yo-Yo from her arms .
`` I ( was ) screaming so much .
The dog was relentless .
It was not getting away from us at all , '' Stepanek said .
`` The pit bull was so determined . ''
A neighbor who heard the commotion ran over and was able to kick the 60-pound pit bull off the 23-pound corgi , then got a leash around the pitbull 's legs .
Police said the neighbor gave the leash to the pit bull @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the pit bull continued its attack .
Eventually , she was able to pull her dog away and secured the animal in a crate .
Yo-Yo was dead from severe injuries by the time an animal control officer arrived , police said .
Arlington Heights police Sgt .
Rick Sjodin said the department takes reports of dog bites and similar incidents , but it 's not often that an animal dies from an attack .
Stepanek credits the heroic actions of her neighbor and is thankful no one else was hurt .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ quickly so its pain was not prolonged .
`` It was horrific .
This was the most vicious attack .
It was completely unprovoked , '' she said .
The pit bull owner was issued a village ordinance citation for an uncontrolled animal .
She did n't respond to a request for comment , but according to a police report , she told police she was carrying a box from her house to the garbage when the pit bull escaped out of the front door .
She yelled at the dog to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the police report states .
The dog has a valid rabies tag and village pet license .
The owner is due at the Rolling Meadows courthouse Feb. 28 to face the charge , which is punishable by a fine of up to $ 750 .
The pit bull could be euthanized .

Pit bull attacks, kills corgi in Arlington Heights
A 2-year-old Welsh corgi named Yo-Yo died Monday after it was attacked by a pit bull in Arlington Heights, authorities said. Courtesy of Alice Sylvester Stepanek
A Welsh corgi dog out for a walk with its owner this week in Arlington Heights was mauled to death by a pit bull that escaped from its house.
"It was the worst thing I have ever experienced," said Alice Sylvester Stepanek, who was walking her 2-year-old female corgi after noon Monday near north Walnut and Chestnut avenues when the attack occurred. "This whole thing from start to finish could have been 10 minutes. Ten minutes is a lifetime when someone's chewing and mauling your dog."
Stepanek said she and her family pet, Yo-Yo, were on their regular afternoon walk when the pit bull came racing down the block and attacked. She picked up Yo-Yo as the female pit bull bit at the smaller dog's legs. The pitbull's owner soon arrived to put a leash on her dog, according to a police report.
Yo-Yo was injured but OK at that point, Stepanek said.
Then, as the pit bull owner was walking her dog back home, she lost control of the leash and the dog returned to resume its attack, police said.
At some point, Stepanek said, she lost Yo-Yo from her arms.
"I (was) screaming so much. The dog was relentless. It was not getting away from us at all," Stepanek said. "The pit bull was so determined."
A neighbor who heard the commotion ran over and was able to kick the 60-pound pit bull off the 23-pound corgi, then got a leash around the pitbull's legs.
Police said the neighbor gave the leash to the pit bull owner, but she again lost control and the pit bull continued its attack. Eventually, she was able to pull her dog away and secured the animal in a crate.
Yo-Yo was dead from severe injuries by the time an animal control officer arrived, police said.
Arlington Heights police Sgt. Rick Sjodin said the department takes reports of dog bites and similar incidents, but it's not often that an animal dies from an attack.
Stepanek credits the heroic actions of her neighbor and is thankful no one else was hurt. She's also grateful her dog died quickly so its pain was not prolonged.
"It was horrific. This was the most vicious attack. It was completely unprovoked," she said.
The pit bull owner was issued a village ordinance citation for an uncontrolled animal.
She didn't respond to a request for comment, but according to a police report, she told police she was carrying a box from her house to the garbage when the pit bull escaped out of the front door. She yelled at the dog to come back, but it didn't listen, the police report states.
The dog has a valid rabies tag and village pet license.
The owner is due at the Rolling Meadows courthouse Feb. 28 to face the charge, which is punishable by a fine of up to $750. The pit bull could be euthanized.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--Feder: Anchor Terrence Lee, reporter Brittany Garzillo headed for Fox 32

Look for two new hires to be announced today at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 , Robert Feder writes .
Terrence Lee @ @ @ @ @ ABC affiliate WEWS in Cleveland , is expected to join Fox 32 as a news @ @ @ @ @ March 16 .
A Maryland native and Temple University graduate , Lee began his career @ @ @ @ @ ABC/CW affiliate in Salisbury , Maryland .
He joined WEWS in 2013 .
Also headed @ @ @ @ @ reporter is Brittany Garzillo , who has been a traffic anchor and reporter for WGAL @ @ @ @ @ Lancaster , Pennsylvania , since 2018 .
The Lehigh Valley native and graduate of Moravian @ @ @ @ @ , previously worked for WLVT , the PBS station in Bethlehem .
Get the full @ @ @ @ @ media news , at robertfeder.com .

Feder: Anchor Terrence Lee, reporter Brittany Garzillo headed for Fox 32
Terrence Lee, morning news anchor at ABC affiliate WEWS in Cleveland, is expected to join Fox 32 as a news anchor and reporter, starting March 16.
Look for two new hires to be announced today at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32, Robert Feder writes.
Terrence Lee, morning news anchor at ABC affiliate WEWS in Cleveland, is expected to join Fox 32 as a news anchor and reporter, starting March 16.
A Maryland native and Temple University graduate, Lee began his career at WMDT, the dual ABC/CW affiliate in Salisbury, Maryland. He joined WEWS in 2013.
Also headed for Fox 32 as a reporter is Brittany Garzillo, who has been a traffic anchor and reporter for WGAL, the NBC affiliate in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 2018.
The Lehigh Valley native and graduate of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, previously worked for WLVT, the PBS station in Bethlehem.
Get the full report, and more Chicago media news, at robertfeder.com.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-01-30--'Baseball was his life, really': Childhood friend says of coach who died in Bryant crash

Growing up on Albert Street in Mount Prospect , John Altobelli and John Moran were best buddies .
It was a simpler time during the late 1960s .
The duo would make forts in the nearby cornfield , play catch in the easement between houses and games on the street with other kids from the neighborhood .
Those memories came rushing back , Moran said , when news broke of Altobelli 's unexpected death Sunday morning in Southern California .
`` We were just super happy kids , '' Moran said , adding he and `` Johnny '' played together @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When it 's someone you knew from back home , it hits home .
He 's a family man just like I am . ''
Altobelli , 56 , along with his wife , Keri , and roughly 13-year-old daughter , Alyssa , were among nine people killed in the helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter , Gianna , aka `` Gigi . ''
Alyssa and Gigi played on the same basketball team , according to Altobelli 's younger brother , Tony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa , California , where his family moved after leaving Mount Prospect when he was in fifth grade .
Moran 's family also moved to Florida around the same time .
Now 57 , Moran lives in Tucson , Arizona , and has three sons .
He and Altobelli did n't really keep in touch except for a chance reunion in Chicago years later as adults when they drank beer together and caught up on each other 's lives .
`` Baseball was his life , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He knew he wanted to do that and he made a career out of it . ''
Altobelli coached 27 seasons at Orange Coast and was named a national coach of the year by the American Baseball Coaches Association .
He led Orange Coast to more than 700 victories and four state titles , according to the community college .
The way people describe Altobelli as an adult is exactly how Moran remembers Altobelli 's father .
`` His dad was super involved with kids in the neighborhood , '' Moran said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ baseball and `` taught me how to ride a bike .
`` It 's not a surprise that ( Johnny ) ended up in that capacity as a coach for that long period of time . ''
Altobelli had five siblings in addition to Tony , the sports information director and baseball announcer at Orange Coast College .
`` We have lost a member of our OCC family , and our hearts are broken , '' college President Angelica Suarez said in a statement .
`` Coach Altobelli was a giant on our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jason Kehler said in a statement Altobelli personified what it means to be a baseball coach : `` The passion that he put into the game , but more importantly his athletes , was second to none -- he treated them like family . ''
The Altobellis are survived by a son , J.J. , a former college baseball player and current Boston Red Sox scout , and a daughter , Alexis .
A GoFundMe page set up by the Red Sox to help with funeral costs , Alexis ' college tuition and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 201,500 of a $ 500,000 goal by 5 p.m. Wednesday .
`` As J.J. and his sister Lexi cope with the immense sadness stemming from this accident , we want to rally to raise money for them .
Ensuring that J.J. and Lexi do n't have to worry about financial insecurity moving forward is the least we can do , '' according to the fundraising page .

'Baseball was his life, really': Childhood friend says of coach who died in Bryant crash
A photo of the Wildcats football team in Mount Prospect that included John Altobelli and John Moran, who both lived on Albert Street and were close friends in the 1960s. Courtesy of John Moran
Growing up on Albert Street in Mount Prospect, John Altobelli and John Moran were best buddies.
It was a simpler time during the late 1960s. The duo would make forts in the nearby cornfield, play catch in the easement between houses and games on the street with other kids from the neighborhood.
Those memories came rushing back, Moran said, when news broke of Altobelli's unexpected death Sunday morning in Southern California.
"We were just super happy kids," Moran said, adding he and "Johnny" played together on a youth football team. "When it's someone you knew from back home, it hits home. He's a family man just like I am."
Altobelli, 56, along with his wife, Keri, and roughly 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa, were among nine people killed in the helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, aka "Gigi." Alyssa and Gigi played on the same basketball team, according to Altobelli's younger brother, Tony.
John Altobelli was the longtime baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, where his family moved after leaving Mount Prospect when he was in fifth grade.
Moran's family also moved to Florida around the same time. Now 57, Moran lives in Tucson, Arizona, and has three sons.
He and Altobelli didn't really keep in touch except for a chance reunion in Chicago years later as adults when they drank beer together and caught up on each other's lives.
"Baseball was his life, really," Moran said. "He knew he wanted to do that and he made a career out of it."
Altobelli coached 27 seasons at Orange Coast and was named a national coach of the year by the American Baseball Coaches Association. He led Orange Coast to more than 700 victories and four state titles, according to the community college.
The way people describe Altobelli as an adult is exactly how Moran remembers Altobelli's father.
"His dad was super involved with kids in the neighborhood," Moran said, adding he would organize games, coach baseball and "taught me how to ride a bike.
"It's not a surprise that (Johnny) ended up in that capacity as a coach for that long period of time."
Altobelli had five siblings in addition to Tony, the sports information director and baseball announcer at Orange Coast College.
"We have lost a member of our OCC family, and our hearts are broken," college President Angelica Suarez said in a statement. "Coach Altobelli was a giant on our campus."
Orange Coast Athletic Director Jason Kehler said in a statement Altobelli personified what it means to be a baseball coach: "The passion that he put into the game, but more importantly his athletes, was second to none -- he treated them like family."
The Altobellis are survived by a son, J.J., a former college baseball player and current Boston Red Sox scout, and a daughter, Alexis.
A GoFundMe page set up by the Red Sox to help with funeral costs, Alexis' college tuition and living costs had raised more than $201,500 of a $500,000 goal by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
"As J.J. and his sister Lexi cope with the immense sadness stemming from this accident, we want to rally to raise money for them. Ensuring that J.J. and Lexi don't have to worry about financial insecurity moving forward is the least we can do," according to the fundraising page.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-02-05--ALA chief: Libraries must evolve to meet needs of more diverse suburbs

Suburban libraries must diversify their resources , programming and staffing to better serve growing populations of blacks , Latinos and immigrants , says the first black woman to lead the American Library Association .
Tracie Hall , whose appointment as executive director of the nation 's oldest and largest library association takes effect Feb. 24 , notes that libraries have to adapt to changes reflected in the `` suburbanization of people of color . ''
Historically , she notes , large cities contained higher concentrations of communities of color and were the main points of entry for new immigrants and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a significant out-migration of ethnic populations from Chicago to the suburbs .
Today , the suburbs are home to more black and Latino residents than Chicago 's urban center , and they are drawing more immigrants as well , Hall said .
`` That shift is very significant , '' Hall said .
`` ( It ) represents what we are seeing across the country , which is the suburbanization of people of color .
If we are going to support these communities of color , we have to be able to support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social needs in the suburbs as effectively as in large metropolitan cities . ''
This population shift means suburban libraries will need `` an intensive diversification of materials , services and staff , '' Hall said .
A few suburban libraries , such as Skokie and Oak Park , are ahead of the curve in modeling what it means to reflect their communities .
`` Skokie is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse suburbs in the country , '' Hall said .
`` They have been noted for their work to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is noted for its services for homeless residents .
There are many ( suburban ) libraries that are setting best practices examples in serving new immigrants , new English learners , families with small children and low-income residents . ''
Hall said libraries can help communities of color by increasing partnerships with social service agencies , immigrant service providers and chambers of commerce , supporting small businesses , and creating programs to aid economic mobility .
`` Libraries are on the front lines of social justice , '' Hall said .
`` My @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first stop for vulnerable residents ... to ensure that libraries are sought after as partners for supporting these communities . ''
Educating underrepresented ethnic and immigrant communities about participating in the 2020 Census is the next challenge for libraries , she said .
`` The suburbs have much more to lose in an undercount , '' Hall said .
`` Most of the social services to serve these communities , even homeless residents , are really still aggregated in big cities .
A lot of these issues are hidden in the suburbs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last 20 years .
We need to ensure suburban libraries have the tools that they need to effectively support the count . ''

ALA chief: Libraries must evolve to meet needs of more diverse suburbs
Suburban libraries must diversify their resources, programming and staffing to better serve growing populations of blacks, Latinos and immigrants, says the first black woman to lead the American Library Association.
Tracie Hall, whose appointment as executive director of the nation's oldest and largest library association takes effect Feb. 24, notes that libraries have to adapt to changes reflected in the "suburbanization of people of color."
Historically, she notes, large cities contained higher concentrations of communities of color and were the main points of entry for new immigrants and residents. That changed by 2012 with a significant out-migration of ethnic populations from Chicago to the suburbs.
Today, the suburbs are home to more black and Latino residents than Chicago's urban center, and they are drawing more immigrants as well, Hall said.
"That shift is very significant," Hall said. "(It) represents what we are seeing across the country, which is the suburbanization of people of color. If we are going to support these communities of color, we have to be able to support their information needs as well as their social needs in the suburbs as effectively as in large metropolitan cities."
This population shift means suburban libraries will need "an intensive diversification of materials, services and staff," Hall said.
A few suburban libraries, such as Skokie and Oak Park, are ahead of the curve in modeling what it means to reflect their communities.
"Skokie is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse suburbs in the country," Hall said. "They have been noted for their work to service their multilingual community. Oak Park is noted for its services for homeless residents. There are many (suburban) libraries that are setting best practices examples in serving new immigrants, new English learners, families with small children and low-income residents."
Hall said libraries can help communities of color by increasing partnerships with social service agencies, immigrant service providers and chambers of commerce, supporting small businesses, and creating programs to aid economic mobility.
"Libraries are on the front lines of social justice," Hall said. "My goal is to have libraries be a first stop for vulnerable residents ... to ensure that libraries are sought after as partners for supporting these communities."
Educating underrepresented ethnic and immigrant communities about participating in the 2020 Census is the next challenge for libraries, she said.
"The suburbs have much more to lose in an undercount," Hall said. "Most of the social services to serve these communities, even homeless residents, are really still aggregated in big cities. A lot of these issues are hidden in the suburbs. The country has shifted so much in the last 20 years. We need to ensure suburban libraries have the tools that they need to effectively support the count."


dailyheraldchicago--2020-02-04--A 'zest for people': Wickstrom family remembers public face of Roselle dealership

Before the Walter E. Smithe brothers and Peter Francis Geraci earned their place in the Chicago TV commercial pantheon , there was Dan Wickstrom .
Wickstrom 's charisma made him the public face of Dick Wickstrom Chevrolet in Roselle , a dealership that 's stayed in his family for nearly 60 years .
To call the car salesman a local celebrity may be a bit of an overstatement .
But that 's not to say his starring role in commercials from the 1980s and 1990s should be overlooked .
Wickstrom embodied a cast of original characters and the best Chicago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the past , he played Dan `` Van '' Wickstrom , a Van Halen-listening van pitchman who sported a better mustache than the Empire Carpet man .
`` Anybody who grew up around here saw those commercials , '' his nephew , Jared Wickstrom , said .
Family members are remembering Wickstrom 's passion for the car business and his lively personality .
Wickstrom , who lived in Bloomingdale , died Sunday morning from liver disease .
He was 61 .
`` The car business is kind of just what we did , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's in our blood .
Our family has always been very close .
He 's always been very close to his brothers and sisters , and he always had a big sort of zest for people . ''
As the youngest of six , Wickstrom shared a strong bond with his siblings .
His late father , Dick , a World War II veteran , founded the Chevrolet dealership in June 1963 .
`` He worked for General Motors previously , and it was important for him to have a lasting legacy that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do everything they wanted to do , '' said Jared Wickstrom , a third-generation principal at the Irving Park Road dealership .
His uncle grew up in Roselle , Medinah and Bloomingdale and graduated from Lake Park High School , where he was a football player and gymnast .
Like his siblings , he started working at the dealership from a young age .
His older brother , Casey , Jared Wickstrom 's father , worked as a porter until he went to college .
All four brothers -- Casey , Danny , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ business from their dad .
In 1984 , Tim Wickstrom left to open a Ford dealership in Barrington .
The remaining three brothers were equal partners until Terry 's retirement in the early 2000s .
As a fixture in the Roselle community , the dealership supported local charities , youth sports and veterans groups .
After General Motors filed for bankruptcy in 2009 , the dealership was among about 900 originally slated to close , but the automaker reversed course , allowing it to stay open .
Jared Wickstrom said that 's a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the resiliency of his father and uncle and their employees .
`` We did n't feel that we should close .
We did n't want to close .
We wanted to stay open , '' Casey Wickstrom said at the time .
Dan Wickstrom spent the first part of a roughly 30-year career overseeing the sales operations and then ran the service department .
He retired about 10 years ago .
`` He was very lighthearted , '' Jared Wickstrom said .
`` He had a big belly laugh you could hear from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a booming voice , `` but in a very fun loving kind of way , '' his nephew said .
He loved the Rolling Stones , Jethro Tull and the Marshall Tucker Band .
He and wife Catherine raised three children , and at family gatherings , he was known for his impersonations of Al Pacino and John Wayne .
In a nod to Wayne , he played `` Duke '' Wickstrom in another ad for the dealership .
As the Dan `` Van '' Wickstrom persona , he wore a red jacket @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put ketchup on a hot dog .
`` They call me Dan 'Van ' Wickstrom because I 've got a thing for vans , '' he said in the 1990 commercial .
`` Favorite actor ?
Van Johnson .
Favorite painter ?
Van Gogh .
But my ultimate van is this beautiful Winnebago van from the Wickstroms . ''
Wickstrom was `` probably our best sales trainer , '' his nephew said .
But he also was a natural in front of the camera .
`` He had a flair for the dramatic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them laugh , '' Jared Wickstrom said .
Visitation is set for 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Salerno 's Rosedale Chapel , 450 W. Lake St. , Roselle .
A funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. Thursday .
Burial will be private .
Memorial donations may be made to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation or St. Walter School 's endowment fund .

A 'zest for people': Wickstrom family remembers public face of Roselle dealership
Dan Wickstrom, with his wife Cathy and mother Eileen, lived most of his life in the Roselle and Bloomingdale area. Courtesy of Jared Wickstrom
Dan Wickstrom, with his brother Tim, was the youngest of six siblings. Courtesy of Jared Wickstrom
Over his career, Dan Wickstrom ran the sales and service departments of a Chevrolet dealership he owned with his brothers in Roselle. "Teaching other people the business was kind of in his DNA," his nephew Jared Wickstrom said. Courtesy of Jared Wickstrom
Dan Wickstrom ran Dick Wickstrom Chevrolet in Roselle with his brother and co-owner Casey, left. Wickstrom died Sunday. Daily Herald file photo
Before the Walter E. Smithe brothers and Peter Francis Geraci earned their place in the Chicago TV commercial pantheon, there was Dan Wickstrom.
Wickstrom's charisma made him the public face of Dick Wickstrom Chevrolet in Roselle, a dealership that's stayed in his family for nearly 60 years.
To call the car salesman a local celebrity may be a bit of an overstatement. But that's not to say his starring role in commercials from the 1980s and 1990s should be overlooked.
Wickstrom embodied a cast of original characters and the best Chicago cliches. In one 30-second blast from the past, he played Dan "Van" Wickstrom, a Van Halen-listening van pitchman who sported a better mustache than the Empire Carpet man.
"Anybody who grew up around here saw those commercials," his nephew, Jared Wickstrom, said.
Family members are remembering Wickstrom's passion for the car business and his lively personality. Wickstrom, who lived in Bloomingdale, died Sunday morning from liver disease. He was 61.
"The car business is kind of just what we did," Jared Wickstrom said. "It's in our blood. Our family has always been very close. He's always been very close to his brothers and sisters, and he always had a big sort of zest for people."
As the youngest of six, Wickstrom shared a strong bond with his siblings. His late father, Dick, a World War II veteran, founded the Chevrolet dealership in June 1963.
"He worked for General Motors previously, and it was important for him to have a lasting legacy that would provide his family the means to do everything they wanted to do," said Jared Wickstrom, a third-generation principal at the Irving Park Road dealership.
His uncle grew up in Roselle, Medinah and Bloomingdale and graduated from Lake Park High School, where he was a football player and gymnast.
Like his siblings, he started working at the dealership from a young age. His older brother, Casey, Jared Wickstrom's father, worked as a porter until he went to college.
All four brothers -- Casey, Danny, Terry and Tim -- took over the business from their dad. In 1984, Tim Wickstrom left to open a Ford dealership in Barrington.
The remaining three brothers were equal partners until Terry's retirement in the early 2000s. As a fixture in the Roselle community, the dealership supported local charities, youth sports and veterans groups.
After General Motors filed for bankruptcy in 2009, the dealership was among about 900 originally slated to close, but the automaker reversed course, allowing it to stay open. Jared Wickstrom said that's a testament to the support of customers and the resiliency of his father and uncle and their employees.
"We didn't feel that we should close. We didn't want to close. We wanted to stay open," Casey Wickstrom said at the time.
Dan Wickstrom spent the first part of a roughly 30-year career overseeing the sales operations and then ran the service department. He retired about 10 years ago.
"He was very lighthearted," Jared Wickstrom said. "He had a big belly laugh you could hear from a mile away."
Wickstrom had a booming voice, "but in a very fun loving kind of way," his nephew said. He loved the Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull and the Marshall Tucker Band.
He and wife Catherine raised three children, and at family gatherings, he was known for his impersonations of Al Pacino and John Wayne.
In a nod to Wayne, he played "Duke" Wickstrom in another ad for the dealership. As the Dan "Van" Wickstrom persona, he wore a red jacket and looked like someone who would never put ketchup on a hot dog.
"They call me Dan 'Van' Wickstrom because I've got a thing for vans," he said in the 1990 commercial. "Favorite actor? Van Johnson. Favorite painter? Van Gogh. But my ultimate van is this beautiful Winnebago van from the Wickstroms."
Wickstrom was "probably our best sales trainer," his nephew said. But he also was a natural in front of the camera.
"He had a flair for the dramatic and loved to entertain people and make them laugh," Jared Wickstrom said.
Visitation is set for 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Salerno's Rosedale Chapel, 450 W. Lake St., Roselle. A funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. Thursday. Burial will be private.
Memorial donations may be made to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation or St. Walter School's endowment fund.


dailyheraldchicago--2020-02-05--Protest planned outside South Elgin Lions Club after 3 denied entry

A 20-year-old from South Elgin is spearheading a protest Saturday outside the town 's Lions Club , which he and his friends say denied them entry into bingo because of their race , an accusation the club disputes .
Jesus Garcia said he and his friends , Mark Rodriguez , 19 , of Elgin , and Anthony Laparry , 22 , of Joliet , went to bingo Feb. 1 at the Lions Club .
Garcia said he lives nearby and saw a sign saying it was open to the community .
The club 's bingo is open to people over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Garcia and Laparry showed their driver 's licenses .
Rodriguez , who recently moved to Illinois , showed his temporary driver 's license issued on paper by the Illinois Secretary of State , they said .
The trio said club representatives questioned Rodriguez 's ID and escorted them off the premises , then called police when they returned with Garcia 's mother .
No arrests were made .
The club said in a statement emailed to the Daily Herald by vice president Gary Hyman that the men were asked to leave after Garcia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and threatened to harm the security officer '' when Rodriguez was asked for a second ID .
However , the three said they left quietly when asked , but then exchanged words when security officers reacted angrily after they said they believed they were kept out because of race .
`` We were treated very poorly , along with my mother , for no reason at all , '' Garcia said .
The three friends acknowledged the club has the right to refuse entry but said they saw no reason for it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
One of the security people asked Rodriguez to repeat his last name a few times and initially said he was going to keep Rodriguez 's temporary ID , but eventually gave it back .
Garcia 's mother , Yareliz Flores , said when her son and his friends came home and told her what happened , she tried to straighten things out .
She called the club , then went there with the three to get clarification about the ID policy .
`` I thought as a mom , 'OK , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's go over there . '
I thought they would let them stay there and play , '' she said .
`` But from the moment I walked in , it was n't like that . ''
The club said Flores `` starting yelling and alleged that the club 's actions were racially motivated . ''
Police were called after the group was asked to leave , the statement said .
South Elgin Deputy Chief Mike Doty said club representatives told police they were unfamiliar with state-issued temporary IDs and `` felt better @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' After speaking with police , the club said the friends could come back for bingo the following Saturday .
Officers did n't have a chance to tell that to the group , which by then had left , Doty said .
The club said it `` apologizes for any misunderstanding about policies and procedures . ''
The club follows the protocols of alcohol service training and asks for a second ID when the first ID is `` questionable , '' the statement said .
The club said it `` in no way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ race or national origin . ''
The three friends said their protest Saturday will be peaceful .
`` We did not walk in there loud or yelling or being obnoxious .
We walked in there and asked a simple question : 'How can we play bingo ? '
'' Garcia said .
`` And immediately we were treated poorly . ''

Protest planned outside South Elgin Lions Club after 3 denied entry
Jesus Garcia, 20, right, pictured next to his mother Yareliz Flores, is organizing a protest Saturday outside the South Elgin Lions Club. photo courtesy of yareliz Flores
A 20-year-old from South Elgin is spearheading a protest Saturday outside the town's Lions Club, which he and his friends say denied them entry into bingo because of their race, an accusation the club disputes.
Jesus Garcia said he and his friends, Mark Rodriguez, 19, of Elgin, and Anthony Laparry, 22, of Joliet, went to bingo Feb. 1 at the Lions Club. Garcia said he lives nearby and saw a sign saying it was open to the community.
The club's bingo is open to people over 18. Asked to show IDs, Garcia and Laparry showed their driver's licenses. Rodriguez, who recently moved to Illinois, showed his temporary driver's license issued on paper by the Illinois Secretary of State, they said. The trio said club representatives questioned Rodriguez's ID and escorted them off the premises, then called police when they returned with Garcia's mother. No arrests were made.
The club said in a statement emailed to the Daily Herald by vice president Gary Hyman that the men were asked to leave after Garcia and Laparry "started to use profanity and threatened to harm the security officer" when Rodriguez was asked for a second ID.
However, the three said they left quietly when asked, but then exchanged words when security officers reacted angrily after they said they believed they were kept out because of race. "We were treated very poorly, along with my mother, for no reason at all," Garcia said.
The three friends acknowledged the club has the right to refuse entry but said they saw no reason for it. Police confirmed the IDs were all valid.
One of the security people asked Rodriguez to repeat his last name a few times and initially said he was going to keep Rodriguez's temporary ID, but eventually gave it back.
Garcia's mother, Yareliz Flores, said when her son and his friends came home and told her what happened, she tried to straighten things out. She called the club, then went there with the three to get clarification about the ID policy.
"I thought as a mom, 'OK, there was misunderstanding, miscommunication, so let's go over there.' I thought they would let them stay there and play," she said. "But from the moment I walked in, it wasn't like that."
The club said Flores "starting yelling and alleged that the club's actions were racially motivated." Police were called after the group was asked to leave, the statement said.
South Elgin Deputy Chief Mike Doty said club representatives told police they were unfamiliar with state-issued temporary IDs and "felt better with another acceptable form of ID." After speaking with police, the club said the friends could come back for bingo the following Saturday. Officers didn't have a chance to tell that to the group, which by then had left, Doty said.
The club said it "apologizes for any misunderstanding about policies and procedures." The club follows the protocols of alcohol service training and asks for a second ID when the first ID is "questionable," the statement said. The club said it "in no way condones discrimination, particularly discrimination based upon race or national origin."
The three friends said their protest Saturday will be peaceful. "We did not walk in there loud or yelling or being obnoxious. We walked in there and asked a simple question: 'How can we play bingo?'" Garcia said. "And immediately we were treated poorly."