Northwest suburban faces in the news in 2010

On the web, Stone was a huge draw for readers, commenters

The ever controversial Lisa Stone dominated the conversation throughout 2010, whether the story was her battles with former Village Manager William Brimm, her ongoing arguments with Village President Elliott Hartstein, her continual Freedom of Information Act requests, her suspicions about the Land and Lakes landfill, or her eventual recall from office.

Stone made it clear from the outset of her 18-month tenure as trustee that she would not be a member of the “old boys” network.

On her very first evening as trustee, she made the approval of off-track betting for Buffalo Grove an issue. From that point on, the village board meetings were “must-see TV.” Any story about her on dailyherald.com would be among the most viewed that day, and would often be the lead draw for story commenters for days afterward.

She questioned village policies, including how the village handled cash from Buffalo Grove Days; became involved in legal battles, filing suit against someone who had posted a comment she said was verbally abusive to her son on the Daily Herald comment board; and filed a police report against a former trustee who she said bumped her at a Buddy Baseball game last year.

Stone's conflict with the board, however, really kicked into high gear this year, after a resident complained about odors emanating from the former Land and Lakes landfill in a newly incorporated area of Buffalo Grove. She exposed the fact that it was a composting site; her efforts earned her a reprimand from the village board.

After the village board passed a recall ordinance, residents filed a petition seeking her ouster, and the measure passed in November with 70 percent of the vote.

If trustees hoped they'd seen the last of Stone, it was quickly apparent that wasn't the case. Since then, she has questioned how the OTB was allowed to change hands without receiving village approval — a condition of its permission to operate, and she has gotten the Better Government Association to oppose a measure that would allow the village to destroy nonofficial and personal e-mails. Stone continues to dominate the discussion.

Schaumburg cleans up home of man living in driveway

While homeless people are certainly present in the Northwest suburbs, Schaumburg resident John Wuerffel's unusual plight of owning a home he's forced to live outside of made him something of a minor celebrity last summer.

Even though in debt on the house he'd owned since 1971 on the 1400 block of Hampton Lane, the 62-year-old Wuerffel isn't actually a victim of foreclosure.

His real reasons for living in one of the cars in his cluttered driveway were that his utilities were shut off and that the interior of the home was impassable from the vast collection of recyclable items he used as income.

The village of Schaumburg sought a court order to forcibly clean the inside and outside of the home, but found it difficult to obtain.

Wuerffel won his bid to have the case decided by a jury trial, then proved surprisingly adept in defending himself in court.

Still, the jury ruled in the village's favor and Judge Hyman Riebman ultimately granted Schaumburg the court order after Wuerffel failed to get the job done during a short grace period.

Though Wuerffel's home is still without utilities, he is weathering the winter months in homeless shelters around the suburbs.

Elk Grove Village mayor has momentous year

It's been a momentous, tumultuous, fortuitous year for Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson with a series of highs and lows in his public and personal life.

Among the highs:

Johnson celebrated his 50th birthday, the successful completion of his prized Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove, now in its fifth year, having the Stanley Cup featured in his hometown parade, the resolution of a long-fought battle with the city of Chicago over expansion of O'Hare International Airport, and the third consecutive year of no increase in the village property tax.

Among the lows:

Johnson's son, Craig Johnson Jr., 23, was cited under local ordinances for leaving the scene of an accident and failing to give information after his pickup truck apparently went over a curb and struck three unoccupied vehicles in the early-morning hours of June 18 at an apartment complex parking lot.

Johnson Jr. was apprehended at the mayor's home. He paid a $195 fine, was put on court supervision and was ordered to perform community service.

Exactly 11 days after his son's crash, Johnson himself suffered a life-threatening fall in a bicycle accident.

On June 29, Johnson was riding with about 15 bicyclists on Cosman Road near Lake Cosman in the village when his front tire clipped the back tire of the rider ahead of him. He was catapulted over the bicycle's handle bar at 32 miles per hour and tumbled a few times before his head struck the pavement.

Johnson suffered a concussion, a punctured lung, a broken collar bone, five broken ribs and a muscle tear in his hip joint.

The accident kept Johnson for participating in the Tour of Elk Grove, which he rides every year without fail, and it likely will be awhile before he is able to ride a bicycle again. He avoided surgery for the broken collar bone, but that means the recovery will take longer, roughly 6 to 8 months.

Revered cheerleading coach returns to Buffalo Grove

The secret behind Elk Grove High School's five consecutive state championship wins in coed varsity cheerleading has been passed to Buffalo Grove High School.

Jeff Siegal, Elk Grove High School's prized cheerleading coach, returned to his hometown school this school year trading the Grenadiers' green and gold for the Buffalo Grove Bisons' orange and blue.

Siegal, who has been coaching for 17 years, previously split his time between the two Northwest Suburban High School District 214 schools as an instructional assistant for special education and a boys volleyball coach at Buffalo Grove by day and coed varsity cheerleading coach at Elk Grove after school.

Siegal first earned his cheerleading stripes at Buffalo Grove where he coached for seven years, leading the coed squad to victory at the Illinois Cheerleading Coaches Association state championships in 2000 and 2001 and winning a national title with the AmeriCheer competition in Orlando.

He briefly left District 214 in 2001 to coach Northwestern University's Spirit Squad. When he returned to Buffalo Grove, the coed cheerleading program had dissolved but Elk Grove needed a head cheer coach.

Recently several of Buffalo Grove High School's cheerleading staff members decided to pursue other opportunities within the district and the head coach position became available. Siegal plans to revive the coed team at Buffalo Grove.

Inverness climber does the ‘Grand Slam'

Neighbors in Inverness have seen Suzanne Nance dragging her improvised sled mounted on skis and loaded with weights around outside, even when no snow litters the ground. Some sympathetic drivers stop to offer her a ride home.

The 50-year-old adventurer hardly needs transportation, as she's used to traveling great heights and distances. The weighted sled is part of her training regimen.

She's among a select group who have climbed the highest peaks on each of the seven continents and skied over both the North and South poles. Doing all that is called the Adventurer's Grand Slam.

Nance, a fitness trainer, completed the slam in 2007, but health and personal concerns prevented her from touting her accomplishments. They were featured last summer in a story in the Daily Herald.

Starting with Kilimanjaro and ending with Everest, it took Nance two years and 83 days between her first climb and the seventh. She's a Palatine High School graduate.