O'Hare cemetery case may land in Illinois Supreme Court

After years of emotionally wrenching litigation, the question of whether to move a cemetery at O'Hare International Airport appears headed for the Illinois Supreme Court.

St. Johannes Cemetery is located in the middle of a runway under construction by the city of Chicago as part of airport expansion. In September, the 2nd District state appellate court sided with a DuPage judge in ruling the city could take possession of the graveyard.

Wednesday, attorneys representing relatives of people buried in the cemetery and its owner, St. John's United Church of Christ in Bensenville, filed a petition asking the Illinois Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the lower court's decision.

In addition, the Supreme Court granted a request to temporarily halt Chicago from assuming ownership of the cemetery until the appeal is decided.

Attorney Joseph Karaganis, who represents St. Johannes' families, said his clients' religious rights should be constitutionally protected but the O'Hare Modernization Act of 2003 took away those freedoms.

The free exercise of religion “is now extended for every other religion in the state of Illinois but is not protected at St. Johannes. I fail to see how that passes constitutional muster,” Karaganis said.

Chicago Department of Aviation officials said they were disappointed the court delayed their taking possession of the cemetery, which was supposed to have gone into effect Thursday.

The city is building both ends of a runway which is now bisected by St. Johannes. The project is part of a massive plan to create six parallel runways intended to relieve congestion at O'Hare.

Department of Aviation spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said 125 families were working with the city's grave relocation program and one relative had come in from out of town for a grave removal this weekend only to be told it wasn't possible now. “It's frustrating for them,” she said.

There are about 1,200 graves in the cemetery. Meanwhile, families with loved ones in St. Johannes who are fighting the city say it's sacrilegious to move the graves from the historical cemetery.

Chicago is expected to file a response to the church's petition in November.